Cinco Elementos Mezcal Tepeztate

Cinco Elementos Tepeztate is a joven mezcal made entirely from Tepeztate agave in San Lorenzo Albarradas, Oaxaca. Tepeztate, Agave marmorata, grows wild on steep rocky slopes and can take twenty five to thirty five years to reach full maturity, which keeps production small and gives the spirit its intense, herbal, green and floral signature. The producer works by hand across three generations, from tending the land to overseeing the distillation.
The agave is cooked in an underground stone oven, a horno de piedra, then crushed with a tahona, fermented in pine wood tanks and double distilled in copper. Beneath a pleasant smoke the aroma carries chalky minerals, sea salt, raw potato, cooked asparagus and grilled green pepper with a hint of Mexican vanilla. The palate is soft, with fresh green leaves, lavender, wild grass, a touch of pepper and a faintly leathery, charred close.